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Policy Debates: What For?

May 7, 2010 by · 2 Comments 

Over at the westernstandard.ca’s Shotgun blog, Hugh MacIntyre reports on the Canadian Conservative government’s reintroduction of a bill that would impose mandatory minimum sentences for various cannabis and drug-related activities.  Introduced as Bill S-10 yesterday, its predecessor, Bill C-15, died as a result of the Harper government’s decision to prorogue Parliament (i.e., to end one session of Parliament, and begin a new one).  It is indeed likely the case that government was prorogued precisely so as to kill C-15. Read more

What You Ain't Ain't What You Is

April 13, 2010 by · 3 Comments 

Over on facebook.com, I posted the following “status” message, which has led to some interesting feedback. I post it some of it here, without name attribution (for the sake of the privacy of my facebook friends). I’ll update this blog post, as warranted, so check back from time to time to see how the debate develops.

My status message read:

Paul McKeever is not an atheist. One cannot be identified by what one is not. And, no, atheism did not “cause” communism. A zero cannot “cause” anything.

The responses were as follows:

Me: To clarify: I’m not an aSanta-ist either.

Read more

Paul McKeever’s Minimal Maxims and Bon Arrows, volume 2, issue 1

February 24, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

20081029paul If you don’t know what it isn’t, you know nothing about it, and I know something about you.

(Truths now lie in parentheses).

Erroneous praise versus thoughtless condemnation or avoidance. The latter alone is inexcusable.

Music to the Hegelians: one hand clapping.

Paul McKeever’s Minimal Maxims and Bon Arrows, volume 1, issue 7

September 14, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

20081029paul Truer words have never been said, even in response to a lie.

Godly fire never shone
For brilliant spark fell but on stone.
Where hid paper, where slid pen?
What distraction stunted ken?
What grand wonders failed to be
For lack of mark or memory?

The Folly of the Tax Department: in many jurisdictions, the penalty for keeping the wealth that you produce peacefully is worse than the penalty for turning yourself in for mass murder.

O Beard
It’s not so plain to see.
Do I hide you or do you hide me?
Are you this man’s soul, in manifested form?
Or does my soul shine only when you’re shorn?
Fine blades
drawn across my face:
Virtuous slice or bloody disgrace?
If I take you off, what then may one infer?
That I’ve naught to hide, or cherub mask prefer?
O Beard
Let’s make it plain to see.
Sometimes show you, always show just me.
So I’ll groom you now, and leave me as I be,
But we’ll sever relations in a month or three.

Paul McKeever’s Minimal Maxims and Bon Arrows, volume 1, issue 6

July 6, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

Those who cannot remember the past condemn us to the reliving of it.

Eat of my need, drink of my want. – Man’s last supper

It is illegal to obtain or destroy a free man’s values without his consent.

Another rich man lost his shirt.
A holy roller’s name’s now dirt.
Cold and rain clouds on the run:
Ten percent chance of heat and sun.
The fix was in for the gold medal winner.
The diet you failed don’t make one thinner.
That poor woman’s child can’t walk,
Can’t swallow, can’t hear, can’t even talk.
The sold out show was a giant flop.
The fat plain singer came out on top.
A bowl of sweet lemons and sour grapes:
The yummy daily diet of irrational apes.

Paul McKeever’s Minimal Maxims and Bon Arrows, volume 1, issue 5

March 31, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

Peikoff, Ridpath, and – forgive me – even Brandon: Eh is Eh, eh?

“God only knows…”
I know it ain’t so.
Nobody knows nothing,
and nothing don’t know.

Live for a what, not for a when.

The day wore on and, one after another, freed of the need to pull the wagon, they happily rode upon it, until, at sunset, it ground to a halt. It would be a long, cold, night. – A Brief History of America

Paul McKeever’s Minimal Maxims and Bon Arrows, volume 1, issue 4

March 15, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

Space shrinks when you’re having fun.

“I think…”, it thought, as He popped into existence and it popped out.

ymj umnqtxtumjw nx ijfi. qtsl qnAj Ymj umNqtxtumjw.

Keep the icons, replace their meanings, provoke the irrational, expose their falsehoods, let their memes shrivel in the hot light of reason.

Paul McKeever’s Minimal Maxims and Bon Arrows, volume 1, issue 3

February 14, 2009 by · 3 Comments 

I, to be commanded, must be obeyed.

Any sufficiently rational individual is indistinguishable from a wizard.

A kindness paid to the worthy kills none, but to the unworthy kills all.

While raising the flag of freedom, be willing and prepared to see it at half-mast.

Paul McKeever’s Minimal Maxims and Bon Arrows, volume 1, issue 2

January 5, 2009 by · Leave a Comment 

Having joined the many who purchased a large tome on the case for atheism, he realized: the joke’s onus.

I think in Canada, therefore, he is.

Objectivism: The flower of freedom springs only from the soil of reality.
Libertarianism: The flower of freedom is cut from silk.

It’s never the economy, stupid.

Paul McKeever's Minimal Maxims and Bon Arrows, volume 1, issue 1

October 29, 2008 by · 1 Comment 

If you set out to change someone’s mind, first ensure that he has one.

The hollowing of trees follows the hollowing of heads.

Praise to hate, condemn to love, refrain from judgment to feel nothing at all.

Every mind is a woman, every truth is a man.

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